Thursday, February 16, 2006

A federal jury has determined that cold war military contractors building nuclear bomb components near Denver contaminated lands owned by 12,000 neighbors with plutonium waste, and has recommended $554 million in payments and penalties.Lawyers for the companies, Dow Chemical and Rockwell International, said they would appeal the decision, which was read late Tuesday.People living near the site said the decision, after a 16-year legal battle over the environmental consequences of the plant, Rocky Flats, had vindicated their claims.